


Where the Heart Is

by glorious_spoon



Category: Agent Carter (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Injuries, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-01
Updated: 2018-02-01
Packaged: 2019-03-12 02:55:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13538193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glorious_spoon/pseuds/glorious_spoon
Summary: This wasn't quite the weekend Peggy had planned, but it would do.





	Where the Heart Is

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lillianmmalter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lillianmmalter/gifts).



The entire case had been one headache after another. It should have been an utterly simple investigation— in fact, the SSR’s presence had been little more than a formality; inter-agency cooperation and politics and all that sort of nonsense that Peggy was very glad it was Jack’s job to manage. She’d been looking forward to a quick arrest of the smuggling ring, handshakes and celebratory whiskeys all around, and a too-rare opportunity for her and Daniel to spend time with Jack before he had to fly back to Washington. A weekend with fine weather, just for the three of them. They could take a car out to the beach and she could teach Jack how to surf while Daniel lounged under an umbrella on the sand and laughed at them. It would be utterly lovely.

Fate, it seemed, was determined to spite her.

First, the predicted good weather had turned into an unseasonable rainstorm that left large chunks of the city inconveniently flooded and the basement offices of the SSR unpleasantly damp. Then the bust that should have been a simple operation had been explosively derailed when the smugglers turned out to be dealing in black-market Eastern European weaponry in addition to experimental contraband narcotics. One blown-up dockfront warehouse later, Peggy had a sprained ankle, a persistent ringing in her ears, and yet another suit ruined by ashes, blood (none of it hers, at least) and mysterious chemical compounds. Dr. Samberly had assured her that none of them were toxic unless actually ingested, but her skin had begun itching unpleasantly, and toxic or not she wanted the stuff _off_ of her as soon as possible.

And then—

“Oh, you _must_ be joking,” Peggy muttered, coming to an abrupt halt outside Daniel’s office, clinging to the door frame to keep upright on her wobbly ankle.

Daniel was behind his desk, looking precisely as sodden and exasperated as she felt, although he was clearly trying to hide it. Sitting beside it were the Deputy Director of the FBI and Senator Ackley of the Armed Services Committee, both of them looking thunderously annoyed.

They’d already seen her. It was too late to beat a quick retreat, so Peggy patted her disheveled hair down, smoothed her blouse, and put on the most pleasant expression she could manufacture.

“Director Halloway, Senator,” she said, limping into the room. Fortunately, Daniel kept a chair near the door, and she managed to collapse into it in a more or less dignified fashion before her ankle gave out entirely.

“Agent Carter,” growled Halloway. “Wonderful. Maybe you can explain just exactly what happened today, since your boss seems to be at a loss for words. If this is the kind of cooperation we can expect from the SSR—”

“Excuse me, gentlemen,” said a smooth voice from behind her, and Peggy spun in her seat to see Jack leaning into the office, looking annoyingly clean and fresh-faced. He slanted her a grin, eyes crinkling at the corners, and added, “And ladies, of course. Senator, I was hoping to catch you before I flew out, if you have a few minutes— Sousa, you don’t mind me borrowing your office, do you?”

“Not at all,” Daniel said, heaving himself upright with a wince. “That is, if we’re done here?”

Scowling, Halloway began to open his mouth, but Senator Ackley cut him off with a sharp gesture. “We’re done. Chief Sousa, my office will be in touch.”

“Looking forward to it,” Daniel said, and reached for his crutch.

“Go get cleaned up, you look like a drowned rat,” Jack said carelessly. “You too, Carter.”

Peggy gave him a very dry look, and he just grinned back, mouthed, _You’re welcome._

“Peggy?” Daniel said. “Shall we?”

She accepted his hand up, steadied herself briefly on his forearm, then let go. Her relationship with Daniel wasn’t precisely a secret (although their relationship with _Jack_ certainly was), but they did try to be discreet. She could probably make it to the locker room without assistance. Hopefully. It would be utterly embarrassing if Daniel had to lead her along tottering the whole way.

Jack clapped Daniel on the shoulder as he passed, hustled Halloway out the door with the practiced ease of a consummate politician, and shut the door in their faces. Outside in the hallway, Halloway shifted on his feet, glared at Daniel, then at her, and opened his mouth.

“Well,” Peggy said. “I am in _dire_ need of a shower and a hot cup of tea. Director Halloway, it was very good to see you. Daniel, I shall have those reports back to you by tomorrow.”

“Of course,” Daniel said, his lips twitching. “See you later.”

Peggy spun on her heel and headed toward the ladies’ room as quickly as her injured ankle would allow; she could hear the tap of Daniel’s crutch as he headed off in the opposite direction, leaving Halloway alone and flabbergasted in the hallway.

* * *

After a shower and a fresh change of clothes from her office, she felt somewhat more human. Her hair was beyond hope, so she just pinned it up and tucked it under a hat; she’d deal with it properly when she got home.

Daniel was waiting by the car, looking much better himself, his wet hair an endearingly riotous mess of dark curls without pomade to tame it. The rain had finally stopped, and the streets had a faintly oily gleam; the sky was in glorious shades of purple and gold behind a receding bank of gray clouds. When she took a deep breath, the air was fresh and crisp in a way that made her suddenly, sharply nostalgic. No doubt tomorrow it would be muggy and unpleasant again as the temperatures rose and the water boiled off, but for now it was actually— nice.

“I don’t know if we ought to wait for Jack,” Daniel said, pulling open the passenger door and offering her a hand over the temporary stream running along the curb, washing summer dust and detritus toward the gutter at the bottom of the street. “He might be a while.”

“You’d damn well better wait for me, Sousa,” Jack said from behind them. They both turned. He stood in the doorway of the SSR, bareheaded and golden-haired, smiling like a movie star. “After I took it on the chin to get you out of there before midnight.”

“Oh, you mean you _didn’t_ need to spend half an hour schmoozing with the Senator back there?” Daniel asked, but he was smiling too, his eyes soft. “Coulda fooled me.”

“You’re a real comedian. You two okay? I heard it all go down on the radio, sounded pretty rough.”

Peggy made a face. She’d spent enough time on the other end of a radio while a fight was happening to sympathize with the poorly-concealed worry in Jack’s voice. She’d take a sprained ankle and a ruined suit any day over that nerve-wracking, frustrating helplessness. “We’re fine. I’ve twisted my ankle a bit, but that was the worst of the injuries.”

Something in Jack relaxed almost imperceptibly, and he pushed off from the door frame and sauntered across the pavement toward them. “Well, good. We going to stand around all night, or can we head home now?”

 _Home._ Home for Peggy— at least according to the SSR personnel files— was a demure and impersonal flat in a nearby residential district. Home for Jack was an equally lonely flat back in D.C. But for the three of them, home was Daniel’s little bungalow, with the too-large bed crammed into the master bedroom, the mismatched crockery and Peggy’s toiletries on the bathroom sink, a jar of Jack’s favorite hair pomade on the dresser. Home was a soft bed and these two sweet, ridiculous men to share it with her. Home was a weekend to themselves, lounging in their pajamas and eating too many pastries in bed while Jack read terrible pulp mysteries and Daniel did the crossword, trading lazy, sticky kisses and not thinking about work at all.

It wasn’t exactly the weekend at the beach that she had planned on, but it would do. It would do just fine.

“Yes,” Peggy said. “Let’s go home.”


End file.
